Gospodar sistema Lord of the System - Rototype2 Modular–Regular FogMetricsFile 1000 emsquare 1000 ascent 0 descent % Output character spacing (!) $1000 width (%) %1000 width (&)

Gospodar sistema

Lord of the System

Papirna izdaja knjige z naslova http://www.rototype.org

Paper editon of the book from the syte http://www.rototype.org

Uãbenik za arhitekte in slikarje

Fakulteta za arhitekturo in

·ola za risanje in slikanje – visoka strokovna ‰ola

Faculty of Architecture andArt House – College for Visual Art

Ljubljana 2003

Jaka Bonãa

1

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knjiga.qxd 7.11.2003 12:09 Page 3

Lord of the System Paper edition of the book from the sytehttp://www.rototype.org

Faculty of ArchitectureandArt House – College for Visual ArtLjubljana 2003

4

Jaka Bonča

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Gospodar sistemaPapirna izdaja knjige z naslova http://www.rototype.org

Uãbenik za arhitekte in slikarje

Fakulteta za arhitekturo

in

·ola za risanje in slikanje –

visoka strokovna ‰ola

Ljubljana 2003

Jaka Bonãa

5

v*aU *aU *aU *aU *aU *aU *fgfgfgfgfgfgfKVKVKVKVKVKVKZS S S S S SHDHDHDHDHDHDHcJcJcJcJcJcJcva a a a a afgfgfgfgfgfgfKVKVKVKVKVKVKZS S S S S SHDHDHDHDHDHDHcJcJcJcJcJcJcva a a a a afgfgfgfgfgfgfKVKVKVKVKVKVKZS S S S S SHDHDHDHDHDHDHc6bJcbJcbJcbJcbJcbJc

knjiga.qxd 7.11.2003 12:09 Page 5

6

Gospodar sistema

Lord of the System

Papirna izdaja knjige z naslova http://www.rototype.org

Izdali: Fakulteta za arhitekturo in Visoka strokovna ‰ola slikarstva v Ljubljani

Zanju: Peter Gabrijelãiã in Mladen Jernejec

Besedilo in risbe: Jaka Bonãa

Oblikovanje in prelom: Jaka Bonãa

Grafiãna priprava: HiFi ColorStudio

Organizacija tiska: BoÏnar in partner, vizije tiska

Tisk: Tiskarna Radio

Naklada 500 izvodov

© Jaka Bonãa

Na naslovnici: Mondrian–1, 1. 9. 1997

Na hrbtni strani: Mondrian–1–txt, 1. 9. 1997

Na strani 1: 1 ,2 ,3–b, 3. 8. 1997

Na straneh 2 in 3: Modularnosti 9 (Tipkopisi / Typesettings), 21. 11. 1999

Knjiga je iz‰la s finanãno podporo HiFi ColorStudia.

CIP – KataloÏni zapis o publikacijiNarodna in univerzitetna knjiÏnica, Ljubljana

7.0172.01

BONâA, JakaGospodar sistema: papirna izdaja knjige z naslova http://www.rototype.org/

[besedilo in risbe] Jaka Bonãa. – Ljubljana: Fakulteta za arhitekturo : ·ola za risanjein slikanje, 2003

ISBN 961–6160–45–1

126812160

Jaka Bonãa

knjiga.qxd 7.11.2003 12:09 Page 6

`` . .`> A ? /A A >>> A A A >> ? ? A >/ / /

Gospodar sistema

7

Mondrian–2, 1. 9. 1997

knjiga.qxd 7.11.2003 12:09 Page 7

Foreword 10

Stone and Its (Hidden) Image 14

Visual Art Is Not Literature 30

Lord of the System 1 52



Logic 158

Linear Typography 166

8

Contents

knjiga.qxd 7.11.2003 12:09 Page 8

Predgovor 11

Kamen in njegova (skrita) podoba 15

Likovnost ni literatura 31

Gospodar sistema 1 53



Logika 159

ârtna tipografija 167

Recenziji 176, 180

Kazalo

9

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nitially I drew all these drawings (with theexception of Lord of the System 3) by handwith a rapidograph and a ruler. I wanted acomputer-generated or computer-proces-sed drawing. But, since I did not have acomputer, I began to think like a computerinstead. This way of thinking does not al-low visual corrections.

Consequently, all relationships betweenelements in the drawing are exactly theway they are. They are not concealed,which is achieved subconsciously when

drawing by hand. Later, when the opportunity arose, I trans-ferred all drawings to a computer. I changed and combinedsome of them, but in the process I discovered that the imple-mentation of a work of art has a special charm and that thecomputer deprives us of many things. But it is an excellentsimulation tool.

In retrospect, I tried to arrange drawings into logicalunits. I added text that, again, in retrospect speaks about mythoughts triggered by the drawings. But this is only a smallproportion of all my thoughts.

I designed linear drawings without any illusion of thethird dimension. Nevertheless, every composition can betranslated into sculpture.

10

IForeword

knjiga.qxd 7.11.2003 12:09 Page 10

se te risbe (razen seri-

je Gospodar sistema 3)

sem narisal najprej na

roko z rapidografom

in ravnilom. Îelel sem

si raãunalni‰ko risbo

oziroma raãunalni‰ko

obdelano risbo. Ker pa

nisem imel na voljo

raãunalnika, sem za-

ãel sam razmi‰ljati kot

raãunalnik. To razmi-

‰ljanje namreã ne pozna optiãnih korekcij. Zato so odnosi med

elementi na risbi ãisto taki, kot so. Oziroma niso kako prikriti,

kot to lahko kar podzavestno naredimo, ko ri‰emo s prosto ro-

ko. Kasneje, ko se mi je pokazala moÏnost, sem vse risbe vne-

sel v raãunalnik in jih nekatere ‰e dodatno obdelal in med se-

boj kombiniral. Pri tem pa sem odkril, da ima sama izvedba li-

kovnega dela svoj veliki ãar in da nas raãunalnik marsiãesa

oropa. Je pa odliãen za simulacije. Risbe sem v nazaj sku‰al

urediti v smiselne celote. Dodal sem ‰e besedilo, ki kaÏe kako

sem, vendar zopet v nazaj, razmi‰ljal ob risbah. Toda to je ko-

maj majhen del tega razmi‰ljanja. Risbe sem zasnoval povsem

ploskovno, brez vsake iluzije tretje dimenzije. Vendar je vsako

kompozicijo na risbi moÏno prevesti v skulpturo.

11

VPredgovor

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Foreword

Kompozicije / Compositions, 1978–1992

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Uvod

Kompozicije / Compositions, 1978–1992

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utte le opere, che si veggonofatte dall’Idio, della natura incielo ed in terra sono tutte discultura.(All works of nature created byGod in heaven and on earth areworks of sculpture.)Benvenuto Cellini

I wish to start with an argu-ment that began back in theRenaissance. But first, allowme to remind you of this: di-

vinity is invariably adored in sculptural form. We can paint agod, we can paint Christ, crucifixes, the Holy Family and allkinds of pious scenes in any religion, but a »painting« is nev-er revered. A painting can be wondered at, admired or dis-liked, but never worshipped. Only God or gods carved instone are worshipped.

Non ha l’ottimo artista alcun concetto,Ch’un marmo solo in se circonscrivaCol suo soverchio, e solo a quello arrivaLa man che ubbidisce all’inteletto.(The best of artists hath no thought to show

TStone and Its (Hidden) Image

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utte le opere, che si veggono

fatte dall' Idio, della natura in

cielo ed in terra sono tutte di

scultura.

(Vsa dela narave, ki jih je ust-

varil bog v nebesih in na zem-

lji, so kiparske stvaritve.)

Benvenuto Cellini

Za uvod bom pogrel spor, ki

ima svoj zaãetek v renesan-

si. Najprej pa bi vas rad opo-

zoril na tole: boÏanstva ve-

dno oboÏujemo v obliki skulptur. Lahko naslikamo boga, la-

hko naslikamo Kristusa, razpela, svete druÏine in vse moÏne

verske scene – in to v vseh religijah – toda »slike« nikdar ne

oboÏujemo. Sliki se lahko ãudimo, lahko se nam dopade ali

ne dopade, toda nje ne oboÏujemo. OboÏujemo samo izklesa-

nega boga ali bogove na splo‰no.

Non ha l'ottimo artista alcun concetto,

Ch'un marmo solo in se circonscriva

Col suo soverchio, e solo a quello arriva

La man che ubbidisce all' inteletto.

(Kipar, ãe je pri nas ‰e v taki ãisli,

TKamen in njegova (skrita) podoba

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Stone and Its (Hidden) Image

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which the rough stone in its superfluous shell doth not include;

to break the marble spell is all the hand

that serves the brain can do.)

Michelangelo Bunoarotti, Sonnet XV

Io intendo scultura, quella che si fa per forza di levare, quella che sifa per via de porre, _ simile alla pittura. (By sculpture I mean thatwhich is fashioned by the effort of cutting away, that which is fash-ioned by the method of building up being like unto painting.) Michelangelo Buonarotti

All materials except clay are characterised by a specific qual-ity that dictates something fundamental. By their nature,stone, wood, iron and other materials dominate over theartist; they mystify. Only clay does not show any inherentbeauty or expression.

Carving forces me to respect the material. The materialprevents me from moving away. By carving in stone, I ex-plore the spirit of the material and its own proportions. Thehand thinks and follows the thought of the material. There isno need to measure, because proportions are already there,in the block. Things can either ascend to heaven or descendto earth without changing their proportions. A sculpture ishidden in a block of stone, waiting for me to carve it out.

When I carve, I begin with a large solid block, something

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Kamen in njegova (skrita) podoba

17

ustvari to samo, kar marmor skriva,

le to izkle‰e roka utrudljiva,

ki se njegovi roki zamisli.)

Michelangelo Buonarotti, XV. sonet

Io intendo scultura, quella che si fa per forza di levare, quella che si

fa per via di porre è simile alla pittura. (S kiparstvom mislim tisto,

kar je narejeno s klesanjem; kiparstvo, ki je narejeno z dodajanjem,

je podobno slikarstvu.)

Michelangelo Buonarotti

V vseh materialih, razen v glini obstaja neka specifiãna odlika,

ki narekuje nekaj osnovnega. S svojo naravo navajajo kamen,

les, Ïelezo in drugi materiali k pokoravanju umetnika, k misti-

fikaciji. Glina pa ne kaÏe nobene lepote ali izraza a priori.

Klesanje sili, da material spo‰tujem. Material sam me na-

vaja, da se ne oddaljim. S klesanjem kamna odkrivam duh

materiala, njegovo lastno mero. Roka misli in sledi misel ma-

teriala. Odmerjanje ni potrebno, ker so mere tukaj, v bloku.

Stvari se lahko povzpnejo do neba, ali pa sestopijo na zemljo

ne da bi spremenile svojo mero. Kiparska stvaritev je skrita v

bloku kamna in ãaka name, da jo izkle‰em.

Ko kle‰em, zaãnem z velikim trdnim blokom, z neãim,

kar obstaja. Zaãnem z maso, iz katere moram izlu‰ãiti obliko.

Na zaãetku je materiala mnogo veã, kot na koncu.

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that exists. I begin with a mass from which I must extract ashape. In the beginning, there is much more material than atthe end.

Modelling or constructing a sculpture in the directionfrom its interior to its exterior, is a procedure that is contraryto carving. I begin with the frame and use it as the founda-tion for the construction. It is as if I worked anatomically, be-ginning with the skeleton and adding the flesh. I can retracemy steps, make corrections, add and change. I begin withspace, in which I create a form. It is a creative process, inwhich I begin with nothing.

Carving and modelling are two completely differentmodes of creativity. Modelling may be an easier way of cre-ating a form in space. It takes great force to create a form inspace by carving a sculpture in stone. It is easy to create alarge compact block or carve it from one side or anotherwithout creating a form. Sculpture is in many ways coveredwith moss, with different kinds of surface growth, underwhich there is no form. This is extremely important when Iwant to emphasise the significance of those who like Mic-helangelo, Moore, Brancusi or Hepworth have achievedthree–dimensionality by carving directly in stone. Directcarving demands that I openly face the material that I mustmaster. Because of this, it is a very important craft.

If I was as sarcastic as Leonardo, I would say that there

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Modeliranje, konstruiranje skulpture od njene notranjosti

k zunanjosti, pa je postopek, ki je nasproten klesanju. Zaã-

nem od armature in konstruiram na njeni osnovi. Kot da de-

lam po anatomiji, zaãnem s skeletom in kasneje dodajam

meso. Lahko se vrnem, popravljam, dodajam in menjam.

Zaãnem s prostorom in v njem ustvarjam formo. To je us-

tvarjalni proces, pri katerem zaãnem iz niã.

Klesanje in modeliranje sta dva povsem razliãna naãina

ustvarjanja. Morda je modeliranje laÏji naãin za ustvarjanje

forme v prostoru. Hoãem reãi, da je potrebna zelo velika moã,

da ustvarim prostorsko formo v skulpturi klesani v kamnu.

Lahko je ohraniti velik, kompakten blok ali pa ga klesati z ene

in druge strani in ne ustvariti oblike. Kiparstvo je vse preveã-

krat zaraslo z mahom, z raznimi razrastlinami na povr‰ini,

pod katerimi ni oblike. To je zelo vaÏno, ko Ïelim poudariti

pomen tistih, ki so, kot na primer Michelangelo, Moore, Bran-

cusi in Hepwothova, dosegli tridimenzionalnost z direktnim

klesanjem v kamnu. Direktno klesanje zahteva, da se do ne-

usmiljenosti sooãim z materialom, ki ga moram obvladati.

Zato pa je ‰e kako pomembna obrt.

âe bi bil piker, kot Leonardo, bi lahko rekel, da med kipa-

rji pravzaprav ni bilo velikih umetnikov, temveã le odliãni

obrtniki. In ta umetnost je zaãela propadati, ko so opu‰ãali

direktno klesanje, ki je kiparju omogoãalo, da z vsakim svo-

jim delom osebno zmaga nad materialom.

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have never been any great artists among sculptors, only ex-cellent craftsmen. This art started on a downward slopewhen direct carving, which gave the artist a personal victoryover the material every time he finished a work, was aban-doned.

Every art must obviously have roots in the »primitive« orelse it becomes decadent. This explains why great periods,such as the Greece of Pericles or the Renaissance flourishedso quickly: they followed the »primitive« periods and theywaned slowly.

One of the first principles clearly visible in »primitive«art is respect for the material. A medieval chalice was madeof rough gold and adorned with several large preciousstones. When you held it, you felt the material. A Baroquechalice was of perfect shape, fragile, gilded and covered intiny stones. When you picked it up, you were surprised howlight and immaterial it was.

Today, we do not undertake enough practical work, becausewe are prevented from doing so by the artificially generatedexcessive need to rush and write. One who does not under-take enough practical work has lost all contact with the ma-terial and with nature in general. He imprints things with hisideas and projections that have nothing to do with the mate-

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Oãitno mora imeti vsaka umetnost korenine v »primitivni«,

ãe ne postane dekadentna. S tem lahko pojasnim, zakaj so

velika obdobja, na primer Periklejeva Grãija in renesansa, hi-

tro zacvetela, ko so sledila »primitivnim« dobam, nakar se le

poãasi izgubljala.

Eno prvih naãel, ki se jasno vidi v »primitivni« umetnosti,

je spo‰tovanje materiala. Srednjeve‰ki kelih je bil narejen iz

surovega zlata in okra‰en z nekaj velikimi dragimi kamni. Ko

si ga prijel v roke, si ãutil material. Baroãni kelih pa je bil per-

fektne oblike, tanek in pozlaãen ter posut z drobcenimi ka-

menãki. Ko si ga prijel v roke, si bil preseneãen nad njegovo

lahkostjo in brezsnovnostjo.

Danes premalo delamo praktiãno, ker nas umetno ustvarjeni

potrebi po hitenju in po prekomernem pisanju odvraãata od

tega. âlovek, ki premalo dela praktiãno, je izgubil stik z mate-

rialom in naravo na sploh. Stvarem vsiljuje svoje ideje in

svoje projekcije, ki nimajo niã veã skupnega z materialom.

Podobno velja tudi za opazovalce, ker morajo biti osvobojeni

vseh samovoljnih obãutenj, torej brez predsodkov. âe imate

zamisel v naprej, predstavo o tem, kam boste ‰li, ne boste

pri‰li nikamor. To je rekel Leonardo.

Ustvarjalec dela narobe, ãe preveã pi‰e o svojem delu. Je-

zik je vedno obrnjen izven sebe, da bi oznaãil nekaj zunanje-

ga namesto sebe samega. Torej prav nasprotno, kot naj bi bi-

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22

rial. The same holds for observers, because they must be freeof all wilful feelings: they must be free of all prejudice. If youalready have an idea or perception about where your are go-ing, you will not get anywhere, said Leonardo.

An artist makes a mistake if he writes too much abouthis work. Language is always directed outwards in order todescribe something external instead of itself. Consequently,it is quite contrary to what sculpture should be. It does notsee an egg as a simple, solid form, but as an object of nutri-tional value or as a literary idea of an object that will becomea bird.

In addition, unlike in literature things in visual art areuniformly defined. If I wish to change a single detail in acomposition, I will end up changing everything else, as well.Only philosophers can allow themselves to change a singlecomma in order to get something completely different.

Our weakness is also blind respect for ancient monu-ments. We endeavour to preserve them, including even ruinsof a large part of »cultural« heritage. But this heritage is infact ridiculous, if »cultural«, and we use it in a very confusedway. We emulate it and turn (semi)art into art, instead of em-ulating nature and using raw material.

The »primitive« periods are mines of information andmessages for a historian and anthropologist. But in order tounderstand and appreciate it, it is important to observe it

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lo kiparstvo. Tako ne vidi jajca, kot enostavne ãvrste oblike,

temveã vé za njegov prehrambeni pomen ali pa za literarno

idejo, da bo postal ptiã.

Poleg tega so, za razliko od literature, v likovni umetnosti

stvari enoliãno doloãene. âe Ïelimo spremeniti samo en de-

tajl v kompoziciji, v konãni fazi vedno spremenimo ‰e vse

ostalo. Samo filozofi si lahko dovolijo, da premestijo eno sa-

mo vejico in tako dobijo nekaj povsem novega.

Na‰a slabost se kaÏe tudi v slepem spo‰tovanju starodav-

nih spomenikov. Posveãamo se njihovemu vzdrÏevanju – ce-

lo vzdrÏevanju ru‰evin, velikega dela »kulturne« dedi‰ãine.

Toda kako je ta dedi‰ãina sme‰na, ãe je res »kulturna«, in na

kako konfuzen naãin jo uporabljamo. Zgledujemo se po njej

in delamo umetnost iz (po) umetnosti, namesto do bi jo delali

po naravi in iz materiala.

»Primitivna« obdobja so rudnik informacij in sporoãil za

zgodovinarja in antropologa, toda, da jo razumemo in ceni-

mo, je pomembnej‰e, da jo gledamo, kot pa, da napi‰emo

zgodovino primitivnih narodov, njihovih religij in druÏbenih

obiãajev.

Skozi zgodovino se je stik z materialom in naravo poãasi

izgubljal. Toda veljala so pravila, ki so se razvila skozi dalj‰e

obdobje iz kolektivne prakse. Temeljila so na zakonih narave

in materiala. Njihova uporaba je pomenila sigurnost. Zato so

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rather than write a history of the primitive nations, their reli-gions and social traditions.

Throughout history, man’s connection with material and na-ture has gradually weakened. But rules that had developedover a longer period of collective practice were observed.They were based on the laws of nature and material. Theirapplication represented security. Consequently, they wererespected by all. A house could be constructed only in oneout of five styles (in Tuscan, Doric, Ionic, Corinthian or Com-posite). These styles were in use from Antiquity to the lastclassicist period. Only in the Middle Ages, they took a differ-ent direction. But it is obvious that they respected all laws ofmaterial.

But if we take a look at the contemporary practice in anyarea of artistic creativity, we can see that we have lost all con-tact with material and nature: at a time when we most needthem, there are no rules or laws that we are prepared to ob-serve. We say that we are free, that we express ourselvesfreely, that there are no limits. But the question is whetherwe are truly free. The wise say that we are not.

In this century, all available means seem to be used forthe material satisfaction of man who is only interested in sci-entific and technological progress. There is no unity betweenmaterial, idea and proportions; there is no unity that would

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jih tudi vsi spo‰tovali. Hi‰o si lahko naredil le v enem od pe-

tih stilov (v toskanskem, dorskem, jonskem, korintskem ali

kompozitnem). Ti stili so veljali vse od antike pa do zadnjega

klasicizma. Edino v srednjem veku so delali drugaãe. Toda ta-

krat so oãitno spo‰tovali vse zakonitosti materiala.

âe pa pogledamo dana‰njo prakso na kateremkoli po-

droãju ustvarjanja, vidimo, da smo stik z materialom in nara-

vo popolnoma izgubili: in prav sedaj, ko bi jih najbolj rabili,

skoraj ni veã pravil in zakonitosti, ki bi jih bili pripravljeni

spo‰tovati. Pravimo, da smo svobodni, da se svobodno izra-

Ïamo, da nas niã ne omejuje. Vpra‰anje pa je, ãe smo brez

pravil zares svobodni. Modri pravijo, da ne.

V tem stoletju, izgleda, kot da morajo biti vsa razpoloÏlji-

va sredstva na voljo za razvoj materialnega zadovoljstva ãlo-

veka, ki ga ne zanima niã veã drugega, kot le znanstveno–teh-

niãni napredek. Ni veã enotnosti med materialom, idejo in

merami; ni veã enotnosti, iz katere izhaja proporcija.

Pod geslom napredka se praktiki spreminjajo v teoretike,

ki v strogo omejenih izrazih logike in besed zgolj izraÏajo mi-

sli. Nasprotno pa opazovanje naravnih predmetov ne dopu-

‰ãa, da delam v formulah.

Zame je prava skulptura samo nekaj, kar se ne da izraziti

drugaãe, kot le s skulpturo. Vse, kar lahko predstavim v dru-

gih medijih, naj raje postane nekaj drugega. Da pa bi razumel

kaj je skulptura, se moram najprej omejiti na tisto, kar po

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26

yield proportion.Flying the flag of progress, practitioners become theo-

reticians whose work consists of expressing thoughts inhighly restricted expressions of logic and words. But the ob-servation of natural objects does not permit me to operatewith formulas.

In my opinion, the only true sculpture is something thatcannot be expressed in any other way but in sculpture. Any-thing that can be presented in other media should becomesomething else. In order to understand what sculpture is, Imust first focus on what I cannot express in any other way. Imust focus on artistic practice and craftsmanship.

Ljubljana, July 21 1994

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drugi poti ne morem izraziti. Omejiti se moram na likovno in

obrtno prakso.

V Ljubljani, 21. 7. 1994

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Albers, 1995

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29

Doesburg, 1995

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have found out that what we say is notnecessarily true. In my student days Ipracticed drawing numbers – Arabic – inaddition to the letters of the classicaltypeface – some call it Roman. But onlysomeone without any sense at all wouldcall this typeface »classical«. Only the ex-ternal form of these letters is classical, buttheir essence lies deep within the classicalletters (sculpted) and Arabic numbers(scratched). It is a matter of sensitivity.Arabic numbers have completely differ-ent arches, they tense in a completely dif-

ferent way and in most cases they are not embellished withserifs.

In Bauhaus, a functional typeface was developed in ac-cordance with the contemporary belief that all decorationshould be avoided. But this functional typeface later provedto be impractical. People read typefaces with serifs and other»junk« (according to Bauhaus) much more quickly. Conse-quently, the original idea about the functionality of writingproved one–sided and forced.

*I intend to write about the difference between visual art andLiterature and between visual art and literature–to–be. Whi-

IVisual Art Is Not Literature

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31

poznal sem, da tisto, kar o stva-

ri govorimo, ni nujno tako, kot

resniãno je. Ko sem na fakulteti

za vajo pisal klasiãno pisavo,

nekateri ji pravijo rimska pisa-

va, sem pisal poleg ãrk tudi ‰te-

vilke – arabske. Toda samo ãlo-

vek brez vsakega obãutka jih la-

hko ‰e imenuje klasiãna pisava.

Klasiãna je le zunanja oblika teh

‰tevilk, medtem ko notranje bi-

stvo ostaja pri klasiãnih ãrkah

(klesanih) in arabskih ‰tevilkah

(praskanih). To je stvar posluha. Arabske ‰tevilke imajo ven-

dar povsem drugaãne loke, ãisto druge napetosti, poleg tega

pa veãinoma nimajo serifov.

V Bauhausu so razvili funkcionalno pisavo. Paã po takrat-

nem prepriãanju, da je treba izpustiti vsakr‰no okra‰evanje.

Toda ta funkcionalna pisava se je pokazala kot nefunkcional-

na. Namreã ãlovek bere pisavo, ki ima serife in, po besedah

Bauhausovcev, podobno navlako, veliko hitreje. Tako se je pr-

votna ideja o funkcionalni pisavi izkazala kot enostranska in

vsiljena.

*Razmi‰ljal bom o problemu med likovnostjo in Literaturo ozi-

Likovnost ni literatura

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Visual Art Is Not Literature

32

le I have great respect for Literature, I do not have anythingpositive to say about literature.

With the word literature I refer to everything that hasbeen imposed on visual art and Literature. I do not thinkthat visual art is only the material employed or that Litera-ture is merely a collection of words. The difference does notnecessarily lie in quality: it can be in the place where litera-ture emerges.

* * * * *There is an old story about three stonecutters. Someoneasked them what they were doing. The first stonecutterreplied: »I’m making life more pleasant.« The second said inbetween the swings of his hammer: »I’m cutting the fineststone in the land.« But the third looked at the sky in a vision-ary way and said: »I’m building a cathedral.«

The second stonecutter is problematic: to him, work is apurpose in itself. But the first and the third stonecutter seewell: they recognise differences, they know that facts are rel-ative and are aware that there is not just one form of visualformulation. Consequently they are more correct and moretolerant than the second stonecutter, who thinks only aboutwhat has been said and by whom. The first and the thirdstonecutter understand what has been said and by whom.They are overflowing with creative enthusiasm.

Nevertheless, writers praise the second stonecutter. They

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roma med likovnostjo in literaturo, ki to ‰e ni. Med tem ko Li-

teraturo skrajno cenim, pa o literaturi skoraj ne vem poveda-

ti kaj dobrega.

S pojmom literatura oznaãujem tisto, kar je likovnemu

oziroma Literaturi vsiljeno. S tem pa ne mislim, da je likov-

nost zgolj material oziroma, da je Literatura zgolj zbiranje be-

sed. Razlika ni nujno v kakovosti. Lahko je razlika v mestu

pojavljanja literature.

* * * * *Stara zgodba pripoveduje o treh kamnosekih, ki so jih vpra-

‰ali kaj delajo. Prvi je odgovoril: »Delam Ïivljenje prijetno.«

Med tem ko je ‰e vedno vihtel kladivo, je drugi odgovoril:

»Kle‰em najfinej‰i kamen v deÏeli.« Tretji pa je pogledal v ne-

bo z vizionarskim pogledom in rekel: »Gradim katedralo.«

Drugi kamnosek je problematiãen. Njemu je delo samo sebi

namen.

Prvi in tretji kamnosek dobro vidita, zato dobro razloãuje-

ta, poznata relativnost dejstev in vesta, da ne obstaja le ena

sama oblika vizualne formulacije. Tako sta toãnej‰a in tudi

bolj tolerantna od drugega kamnoseka, ki razmi‰lja le o tem,

kaj je kdo rekel. Prvi in tretji kamnosek namreã razumeta, kaj

je kdo povedal. PreÏema ju ustvarjalna vedrina.

Toda literati hvalijo drugega kamnoseka. Pravijo: »To je

stvaren ãlovek. Ni sanjav.«

* * *

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say: »Here is a down–to–earth chap! He does not live in theclouds, that one!«

* * *A writer must not dare to traverse the gap between what hethinks is real and what he thinks is invented. But literature isnothing but a craft that creates images of a world construct-ed by its Craft. It is no less real than the reality created by anartist. A writer observes the world, stepping outside and as-suming the position of an outsider.

Literature is an odd thing. It is thought to represent real-ity but in reality it does not represent anything. If I observean object in order to discover what it means, I no longer seethe object as it is; instead, I think about the question: »Whatis this?« With this question, I express my desire for every-thing to be understandable. I search for literary significancesince I am afraid of the artistic. And as I search for the liter-ary significance in the artistic, I invent a construction. Iyearn for something to lean on. If I expect an explanation, itmeans that I do not understand visual expression. But as faras the visual artist is concerned, he said everything he hadto say when he finished the work. Understanding is forwords.

If having seen »Križanke IX« I visited Jakopič to find outwhat he wanted to express with this painting, do you hon-estly believe he could tell me anything? And if he had been

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Literat si ne sme dovoliti, da bi prestopil prepad med tem, kar

misli, da je resniãno, in tistim, kar misli, da je izmi‰ljeno. To-

da literatura ni niã drugega kot ve‰ãina, ki ustvarja podobe

sveta, ki ga s svojo Ve‰ãino sama konstruira. Ni niã bolj in niã

manj resniãna od resniãnosti, ki jo ustvarja umetnik. Literat

opazuje svet, pri tem pa sebe izvzema, in gleda nanj kot avt-

sajder.

Literatura je ãudna stvar. Misli se, da naj bi predstavljala

realnost, vendar v resnici ne predstavlja niãesar. âe opazu-

jem neko stvar z namenom, da bi odkril kaj pomeni, ne samo,

da ne vidim veã te stvari same, temveã razmi‰ljam o postav-

ljenem vpra‰anju. Z vpra‰anjem: »Kaj to pomeni?« izraÏam

Ïeljo, da naj bi bilo vse razumljivo. I‰ãem literarni pomen, ker

se bojim likovnega. Ko Ïelim najti v likovnosti literarne po-

mene, izumljam nekak‰no konstrukcijo. Îelim nekaj, na kar

se lahko naslonim. âe priãakujem razlago, pomeni, da sploh

ne razumem vizualnega izraÏanja. Toda kar se tiãe likovnega

ustvarjalca, je s tem, ko je delo konãal, povedal vse. Razume-

vanje je za besede.

Ko bi po ogledu slike KriÏanke IX ‰el k Jakopiãu, da bi zve-

del, kaj je hotel izraziti s to sliko, ali mislite da bi lahko kaj

povedal? In ãe bi lahko to povedal z besedami, ali mislite, da

bi to sliko sploh naslikal? Kolikor vem, tega imena tej sliki ni

dal sam. (Jakopiãevo ime je bilo ·tudija svetlobe.) Vendar to

sliko Ïe od nekdaj poznamo kot KriÏanke. Ali ne razumete

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36

able to express it with words, do you really think that hewould have painted it? As far as I know, he did not give thistitle to the painting (the original title given to the painting byJakopič was »Study of Light«). Nevertheless, this paintinghas always been known as »Križanke«. Don’t you under-stand the absurd wish to explain a simple, sensorial, artisticand human fact? Why speak about what I am doing if any-body can see it? Picasso once said: »Do you like birdssinging? Can you explain it to me? No? Then why do youlike it?« All this is literature that cannot become anythingmore than it already is. It speaks only lies. Any idiot can seebeauty in a beautiful thing. But we should also see beauty insomething else. Beauty is ever present. When a Chinese per-son draws a line and then draws another, why is one linemore beautiful than the other? How can we explain this?How can we explain what a line expresses to him and whyhe does it? Bernik said all in a single sentence: »I flattenblack lines to freeze the lie.«

Anthropologists, philosophers, historians, art dealersand others speak about what art is or should be. Instead,they should allow art to say what it is. It seems natural thatwe do not use the language of politics to speak about art.Therefore, it is logical that we cannot speak about art in away that is foreign to art. Nevertheless, there is a strong ten-dency to interpret in a theatrical, literal way. As if it was not

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nesmisla Ïelje, da pojasnimo enostavno ãutno, likovno, ãlo-

ve‰ko dejstvo! âemu sluÏi, da govorim o tem, kar delam, ko

to lahko vsak vidi? Picasso je enkrat rekel: »Imate radi ptiãje

petje? Mi ga lahko pojasnite? Ne? Zakaj ga imate potem ra-

di?« Vse to je literatura, ki ne more biti niã veã, kot le to. Ves

ãas ti pripoveduje laÏi. Vsak idiot lahko vidi lepoto v neãem

lepem. Pravo pa je to, da vidim lepoto ‰e v ãem drugem.

Lepota je vendar povsod. Ko Kitajec potegne ãrto in potem

drugo, zakaj je ena lep‰a od druge, kako lahko to pojasnim?

Kako pojasnim kaj izraÏa ãrta zanj in zakaj je vse to sploh de-

lal? Ali ni Janez Bernik povedal vsega v enem stavku: »ârne

ãrte plo‰ãim, da laÏ zastane.«

Antropologi, filozofi, zgodovinarji, trgovci in vsi ostali go-

vorijo kaj je umetnost oziroma kaj naj bi bila. Morali pa bi pu-

stiti umetnosti sami, da pove kaj je. Naravno se nam zdi, da ne

govorimo o umetnosti z govorico politike. Logiãno bi tudi bilo,

da ne bi govorili o likovni umetnosti na kak‰en njej tuj naãin.

Toda narobe, veãinoma je prisotna teÏnja po teatralnem in li-

terarnem interpretiranju. Kot da ni pomembno, kaj stvaritev

izraÏa sama; vsaj dokler imam v mislih nekaj drugega.

Ko je Baudelaire, se pravi ãlovek, ki se je ukvarjal s pisan-

jem Literature, govoril o Delacroixu, o likovniku, ga ni zani-

mala literarna tema, temveã slikarstvo samo, tisto, kar nudi

barva, kar pripoveduje oblika. Logiãno, saj obstajajo stvari, ne

teme. Tema je le predmet, s katero se nekdo bavi na doloãen

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important what a work of art can say, at least while I havesomething else on my mind.

When Baudelaire, who wrote Literature, spoke aboutDelacroix, the artist, he was not interested in a literary topicbut in painting as such: what colour had to offer and whatform had to say. This is completely logical, for there existthings, not topics. A topic is merely an object dealt with in acertain way. As far as I know Baudelaire was the firstnon–artist who demanded that the viewer assume an irra-tional standpoint.

* * *The first and the third stonecutter dream that they are onlyartists, but they are obstructed by the craftsman within.Nevertheless, this is their treasure, their personality. Forthis reason they try to bring these two personalities intoline to avoid suffering. The craftsman is arrogant and theyknow him well. He forces them to say: »This stone is notthat bad after all,« and makes them happy at the end of theday. But in the morning, they wake up to a catastrophe. Theartist is a lowly man who is much less satisfied than thecraftsman.

The second stonecutter is problematic. For him, func-tional work is the goal. He was born with a complex, a stateof the spirit that is completely separate from the wishes ofhis family and the needs of his society. He is determined to

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naãin. Kolikor vem je bil Baudelaire prvi ne–likovnik, ki je od

gledalca zahteval iracionalno stali‰ãe.

* * *Prvi in tretji kamnosek sanjata o tem, da sta samo umetnika,

vendar ju obrtnik v njih dveh ovira. Toda v tem je njuno bo-

gastvo, njuna osebnost, zato posku‰ata usklajevati ti dve

osebnosti, ki se ne trpita. Obrtnik je ohol, dobro ga poznata,

on ju prisili, da reãeta: »O, ta kamen pa ni ravno slab«, in sa-

ma sta ta veãer zadovoljna. Toda zjutraj – katastrofa. Umet-

nik je nizkoten, ãlovek, ki ima mnogo manj zadovoljstva, kot

obrtnik.

Drugi kamnosek pa je problematiãen. Pri njem je postalo

funkcionalno delo cilj samemu sebi. Ima prirojen kompleks,

stanje duha, ki je popolnoma loãeno od Ïelja njegove druÏine

in potreb druÏbe. Odloãen je izklesati ta odliãni kamen,

ãetudi njegova druÏina strada in katedrala stoji prazna, ker je

portal prenizek. Izpod njegovih rok bodo pri‰le le romantiãne

ru‰evine in ne trdnjave in oboki, ki bi zadovoljili Ïelje ãlove-

ka. Njega zanima le izdelek sam na sebi. Toda vredne stvari

obstajajo samo v zvezi z menoj, samo kadar se me tiãejo. Ka-

men na poti podloÏim pod kolo avtomobila. Sam ni obstajal;

Ïivljenje sem mu dal jaz, ko sem ga uporabil. âim ga zapu-

stim, ga vraãam njegovi niãevosti. Te zveze so neskonãno ra-

znolike in so osnova neskonãne raznolikosti likovnosti.

Prav nasprotno stran istega problema pa kaÏe tale zgod-

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hew that fine stone even though his family is starving andthe cathedral is empty because the portal is too low. The on-ly work of his hands is romantic ruins, not fortresses andarches that would make human wishes come true. He is on-ly interested in the product as such. But valuable things ex-ist only in connection with me, only when they affect me. Iuse a rock on the road to hoist the wheel of my car. It did notexist before: I brought it to life by using it. The moment Idiscard it, it returns to nothingness. These associations areinfinitely varied and form the basis of an infinite range ofvisual art.

The opposite side of the same problem is evident fromthe following story. Degas once said to Mallarmé: »I cannotunderstand why my poems are no good though my ideasare wonderful.« Mallarmé replied: »Poems, my dear friend,are made of words not ideas.« The same holds for visual art.An idea is actually merely a frame that enables me to build aship and launch it. If I fail to translate thoughts into themedium, when I do not imagine them practically, in a physi-cal material, all my thoughts are worthless. They simply can-not last.

If, according to Thomas Mann, Literature is the ability toevoke emotion while speaking about everyday things, thenpainting is the ability to arrange colours in space in a waythat the obvious aspect of colour disappears to the benefit of

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ba. Degas je rekel Mallarméju: »Veste, ne razumem kako to,

da ne morem pisati dobre poezije, ko pa imam dobre ideje.«

In Mallarmé je odgovoril: »Poezija se ne dela z idejami, tem-

veã z besedami.« Enako velja tudi za likovno umetnost. Ideja

je dejansko samo ogrodje, ki mi omogoãa, da zgradim ladjo in

jo splavim. Ko ne uspem prenesti mi‰ljenja v termine medija,

ko si ne zamislim praktiãno, v fiziãnem materialu, potem vse

moje mi‰ljenje niã ne velja. Preprosto ne prijemlje.

âe je Literatura, kot pravi Thomas Mann, sposobnost, da

vzbudim emocije, medtem ko govorim o vsakdanjih stvareh,

potem je slikarstvo sposobnost razporejanja barv v prostoru

na tak naãin, da oãitni vidik barve izgine v korist orisa nav-

dahnjene misli. Ta oris je zamisel, ki jo lahko vidim; torej

enotnost ideje in materiala. Pomembno je, da ne loãujem teh

dveh stvari, ki gresta »roko v roki«, da ne razmi‰ljam duali-

stiãno. Originalni likovni naãin izraÏanja vsebuje oboje zdru-

Ïeno v enem. To ne pomeni, da razmi‰ljam zaprto, temveã, da

nisem obremenjen z enim na raãun drugega. Ko nisem obre-

menjen, sem stalno pripravljen, odprt za vse. Sem kot zaãet-

nik, ki vidi veliko moÏnosti, in ne ekspert. Ekspert je ãlovek, ki

se omejuje samo na doloãene probleme in ne vidi celote. On

vedno Ïe pozna stvari; jih je Ïe kje prej videl ali bral. Zaãetnik

pa je ustvarjalec. Ustvarjalec je vedno na zaãetku.

Ekspert je platonist, ki ne verjame ãutilom, ãe‰ da laÏejo.

Zato je razvil znanstven aparat. Pravi, da raziskuje. To pome-

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an outline of an inspired thought. This outline is a visibleidea: the unity of idea and material. It is important not toseparate these two things that go »hand in hand«, not tothink in a dualistic way. An original artistic expression con-tains both. This does not mean that I think hermetically; itmeans that I do not let either burden me at the expense ofthe other. When I am not burdened down with anything, Iam in a state of constant alertness; I am ready for anythingand open to anything. I am like a beginner who sees a greatopportunity and not an expert. An expert is a person that fo-cuses only on specific problems and does not see the whole.He always knows things in advance; he has either seen orread them. A beginner is truly creative. And a truly creativeperson is always just beginning.

An expert is a Platonist: he does not believe his sensesand is convinced that they are lying. Therefore, he has devel-oped a scientific apparatus. He claims that he explores. Thismeans that he deduces new properties and relationshipsfrom the properties and relationships postulated in axioms.Consequently, he does not focus on things but on their prop-erties and relationships between them. He gains an (in)sightof the problem. The idea about exploration deludes him. Heconnects visual art with mathematics, trigonometry, chem-istry, psychoanalysis and music in order to make its interpre-tation less complicated.

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ni, da iz lastnosti in odnosov, ki so postulirani v aksiomih,

deducira nove lastnosti in odnose. Torej mu niso predmet re-

ãi, temveã samo lastnosti in odnosi med njimi. Problem pre-

prosto u–vidi. Ideja o raziskovanju ga zavaja. Matematiko, tri-

gonometrijo, kemijo, psihoanalizo, glasbo itd. povezuje z li-

kovnostjo, da bi jo laÏje razlagal.

Aksiomi, izhodi‰ãe vsake teorije, so ãisto hipotetiãne na-

rave. Opisujejo lastnosti in odnose elementov, katerih narava

ni v naprej znana. Pomembno je le, pravi, da sistem aksi-

omov ni protisloven, ãe ne lahko dokaÏe karkoli. Lahko pa

spremeni ta sistem aksiomov, da tako dokaÏe karkoli. Sistem

aksiomov je torej izmi‰ljen in vsaka podobnost z realnostjo je

zgolj sluãajna.

Indijec, na primer, pa se posluÏuje druge poti. Toliko ãasa

prerisuje problem, da se konãno jasno pokaÏe na papirju in

reãe: »Poglej!« On dokazuje in razlaga vidno z vidnim.

*Literatura ima karakteristiko bolj kvantitativnega oznaãeva-

nja stvari. Tak‰nega pogleda na svet pa ne morem izraziti

zgolj z vizualnim medijem. Objektivno predstavne stvari ka-

kor da ne sodijo v likovni svet.

Literatura se ukvarja le z zunanjo obliko in govori o stva-

reh ne da bi pravzaprav vedela o ãem govori. Trdi, da pozna

predmet razprave, med tem ko prava Literatura ne. Slednja

ple‰e okoli predmeta razprave kot maãka okoli vrele ka‰e in

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Axioms as points of departure for any theory are highlyhypothetical. They describe properties and the relationshipsof elements, the nature of which is not known in advance.The only important thing is that the axiom system is not con-tradictory, or else anything could be proven. But the axiomsystem can be changed in order to prove anything. The ax-iom system is therefore invented and any similarity with re-ality is a pure coincidence.

An Indian, for example, takes another path. He keepscopying a problem until it appears clearly on paper and thenhe says: »Look!« He proves and explains the visible with thevisible.

*Literature with a small »l« tends to present things in a quan-titative way. This kind of view of the world cannot be ex-pressed with a merely visual medium. Objectively presenta-ble things do not belong in the world of visual art.

Literature with a small »l« deals only with the externalform and speaks of things without knowing what it says. Itclaims to know what the debate is about, whereas real Liter-ature does not. Real Literature dances around the topic, beat-ing about the bush, and because it does not touch upon thetopic, it describes its essence. An example of this are holyscriptures, which are not written in metaphors so that simplepeople could understand them, but because this is the only

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prav s tem, ko se predmeta razprave pravzaprav ne dotika, ga

opi‰e v svojem bistvu, tako kakor tudi svete knjige. Te niso

pisane v prispodobah zato, da bi jih razumeli preprosti ljudje,

temveã, ker je edino na tak naãin moÏno (z besedami) opisati

neopisljivo bistvo predmeta pisanja.

* * *Duh vidi na dva razliãna naãina: vidi, kot da gleda z oãmi, in

sprevidi nek problem (pri ãemer pa oãi lahko tudi ne sodelu-

jejo). »Re‰evanje« problemov je kot re‰evanje kriÏanke; samo

sebi namen. Ni dobro, da o tem posebej razmi‰ljam. âemu

sluÏi duh, ãe ne za re‰evanje problemov? To je vendar narav-

ni sestavni del dela. Pravzaprav je problem, kako si ne za-

stavljati problema, da se duhu ne bi bilo treba truditi okoli te-

ga, kako ga re‰iti. Re‰evanje problemov je podobno literaturi,

ki je vedno obrnjena izven sebe, da bi oznaãila nekaj zuna-

njega namesto sebe same.

Kot literarno se nam kaÏe vse, kar ne funkcionira drugje,

kot le v svojem, ponavadi umetnem, izmi‰ljenem, miselnem

okviru. Enostavno si postavim doloãen miselni okvir in zno-

traj njega se izkaÏe kot pravilno vse, kar ni Ïe v naprej z njim

v nasprotju. Ko pa ta miselni okvir samo malo premaknem,

pa se izkaÏe kot napaãno praktiãno vse, kar je prej drÏalo, kot

pribito.

Verjamem, da vsak, ki se ukvarja s teorijo, veruje v svoj

prav. To me ne moti, saj lastna likovna praksa nima niã

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46

possible way of describing (in words) the indescribableessence of the topic.

* * *The spirit sees in two different ways: it sees as if it had eyesand understands a problem (in which eyes may or may notbe involved). »Solving« a problem is like solving a cross-words puzzle: it has no particular purpose. I should notthink about it too much. What is the spirit’s task if it is notthe solving of problems? It is part of a work of art. In fact, itis a problem how to avoid finding problems so that the spiritwould not have to struggle solving them. Solving problemsis like literature that is always extrovert in order to describesomething external instead of itself.

The literary is anything that does not function outside itsartificial, invented mental framework. Usually I set myself acertain mental framework within which anything that doesnot contradict it in advance is proven correct. But when Ishift this mental framework only a little bit, practicallyeverything that seemed absolutely correct just a moment agois now proven incorrect.

I believe that anybody dealing with theory believes thathe is right. This does not bother me since artistic practice hasnothing to do with the convictions of other people. But usu-ally when somebody believes in something, his belief turnsinto a bitter sting. In the artistic practice, this sting should al-

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47

opraviti s prepriãanjem drugih. Toda obiãajno, ko nekdo ve-

ruje v nekaj, postane njegovo prepriãanje ost, ki ‰trli. V likov-

ni–umetni‰ki praksi pa bi morala biti ost obrnjena vedno v

nas same. Nebi nas smelo skrbeti zaradi razlik v mi‰ljenju

med nami.

Toda likovnik, ki preveã pi‰e ali govori o svojem delu, ki

posku‰a izraziti svoje cilje z zaokroÏeno, logiãno toãnostjo, se

lahko hitro spremeni v literata, ki v strogo omejenih izrazih

logike in besed zgolj izraÏa zamisli.

Torej! âe likovnik, ki naj bi pravzaprav molãal in se izra-

Ïal le likovno, uporablja besede, potem naj te besede kolikor

je le mogoãe skopo opi‰ejo, kaj je opazil in o ãemer sodi, da bi

drugi likovniki zaradi njegove izku‰nje pridobili ãas. (Tukaj

sem parafraziral Stockhausna.)

* * * * *Prvega in tretjega kamnoseka so vpra‰ali: »Kako so klesali

Michelangelo Buonarotti, Henry Moore, Konstantin Brancusi

in Barbara Hepworth?«

»Direktno.«

»Kako je klesal Auguste Rodin?«

»Sploh ni klesal.«

Tega problema ne morem razloÏiti v okviru literature. To

lahko razloÏim edino s pomoãjo praktiãne izku‰nje poslu‰al-

ca, ki pa jo Ïal sreãam le redko. Zato se moram zateãi k medi-

ju, ki je splo‰no uveljavljen. To pa je literatura.

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48

ways be directed at ourselves. We should not bother aboutthe differences between our convictions.

But a visual artist who writes or speaks about his worktoo much, who attempts to express his goals completely, log-ically and correctly, will soon become a writer whose workconsists of his ideas expressed in strictly defined expressionsof logic and words.

Therefore, a visual artists who is supposed to be silentand express himself only in art should use words only togive brief descriptions of what he has noticed if he believesthat his experiences could help other artists to save time.(Here, I refer to Stockhausen.)

* * * * *They asked the first and the third stonecutter: »How didMichelangelo, Buonarotti, Henry Moore, Konstantin Bran-cusi and Barbara Hepworth work in stone?«

»Directly.«»How did Auguste Rodin work in stone?«»He did not work in stone.«This problem cannot be explained in terms of literature.

It can only be explained with the help of the practical experi-ence of a listener, which is unfortunately very rare. For thisreason I must resort to a generally accepted medium: litera-ture.

*

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49

*V tej razpravi sem se pritoÏeval ãez pisanje. Namreã, kot pi‰e

v Vedi, je vse, kar se nauãimo iz knjig (ali od na‰ih uãiteljev),

enako vozilu. Toda vozilo nam koristi le, dokler smo na cesti.

Ko pa pridemo do konca ceste, pustimo vozilo in gremo pe‰

naprej. Torej likovna teorija ni vsemogoãna. Vendar se

moramo zavedati, da likovno teorijo vseeno potrebujemo.

Kakor je rekel Johannes Itten, ãe lahko ustvarimo barvne

mojstrovine ne da bi vedeli, je to ne–vedenje na‰a pot. Ko pa

zaradi ne–vedenja ne moremo ustvariti barvnih mojstrovin,

si moramo vedenje izgraditi. In tukaj nam pomaga Literatura.

V Ljubljani, 7. september 1994

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50

In this article I complain about writing. Because, as theVedas say, everything we learn from books (or our teachers)is like a vehicle. But a vehicle is useful only on the road.Once we reach the end of the road, we leave the vehicle andcontinue on foot. Therefore art theory is not omnipotent. Butat the same time, we must be aware of the fact that art theoryis still needed. As Johannes Itten says: »If you, unknowing,are able to create masterpieces in colour, then unknowledgeis your way. But if you are unable to create masterpieces incolour out of your unknowledge, then you ought to look forknowledge.« And here Literature can be of great help.

Ljubljana, September 7 1994

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ak, 1988

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52

f an artist who is supposed to be quiet andexpress himself only through visual art us-es words, he should describe what he hasnoticed and what he thinks could help oth-er artists save time in as few words as pos-sible. If he speaks about modular order ora composition of a work, he should act inthe capacity of a scientist.Initially, I learnt a new language duringmy studies of modular order in nature.Today, I understand and use this languagedifferently, because I observe new phe-nomena year by year. The pure parame-

ters of experience, which I have learnt, have become broad-er. The language has become more organic and flexible. Isoon discovered that the artistic does not originate onlyfrom »purely artistic« properties. All our artistic endeav-ours are a statement about ourselves and reflect our under-standing of the surroundings. Our work is greatly influ-enced by the surroundings in a way that cannot be ex-pressed in words; the »geometric modular« language isthereby spiritually enriched.

Sequences, fonts, and series – the ordering of thingsthrough harmonic relationships is in terms of approach clos-er to nuclear physics, new biology, new genetics or a com-

ILord of the System 1

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53

o likovnik, ki naj bi prav-

zaprav molãal in se iz-

raÏal le likovno, upora-

blja besede, potem naj

z besedami kolikor je le

mogoãe skopo opi‰e, kaj

je opazil in o ãemer so-

di, da bi drugi likovniki

zaradi njegove izku‰nje

pridobili ãas. Ko govori

o modularnem redu ali

kompoziciji likovnega

dela, potem naj to poã-

ne kot znanstvenik.

Na zaãetku sem se s ‰tudijem modularnega reda narave

nauãil novega jezika. Ta jezik danes razumem in uporabljam

drugaãe, ker lahko leto za letom opazujem nove pojave. âisti

parametri izku‰nje, ki sem se jih nauãil, so se raz‰irili. Jezik je

postal bolj organski in fleksibilen. Kmalu sem namreã ugoto-

vil, da se likovnost ne izãrpa v »zgolj likovnih« lastnostih. Vsa

na‰a likovna aktivnost je pravzaprav tudi izjava o nas samih

in kaÏe na na‰e razumevanje vsega okoli‰kega. V na‰e delo

prihaja iz okolice veliko tega, kar z besedami ni izrekljivo in

tako se »geometriãno – modularni« jezik bogati z duhovnim.

Zaporedja, vrste, serije, se pravi, urejanje vsega z razmer-

KGospodar sistema 1

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Lord of the System 1

54

pletely new conception of existence than a pure work of art. Iunderstand the principle of series (sequences) as a universalprinciple. It broadens human awareness and possibilities ofcomposition to the extent that it will continue to inspire usfor some time in the future.

By using series, I pre–define composition. The material isarranged and organised even before I approach the task.One may wonder what is left for me to do if the preparationof material is based on variation. It means that I do not ap-proach the task freely. I am bound by order. I become its vol-untary servant, because I select it myself. But this means thatI still have freedom.

People want to be free because they hope that this willrelease their inherent creative forces. But this is merely an ex-pression of subjectivity. Their hope that it is possible to cre-ate only from one’s own source is soon shattered. The onlysolution seems to be objectivity. In this way, freedom is di-alectically reversed. People realise that they must obey lawsand the system, but this does not take away their freedom.Freedom is not the violation and disrespect for rules. Thiswould be banal. We are free when we no longer feel rules asa restriction, when we expand on them: when we cease to beanarchic. From a wider perspective, true freedom may befound only in complete order and discipline.

Order as an artistic composition is not there to serve it-

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ji ene kali, ima po pristopu skoraj veã skupaj z jedrsko fiziko,

z novo biologijo, z novo genetiko, s popolnoma novo koncep-

cijo obstoja sploh, kakor pa s ãistim likovnim delom. Naãelo

serije (zaporedja) razumem kot univerzalno naãelo. To naãelo

tako ‰iri ãlovekovo zavest – moÏnosti v kompoziciji, da ga v

prihodnosti ‰e kmalu ne bomo izãrpali.

S tem ko uporabljam serije, je kompozicija Ïe v naprej na-

stavljena. Vsa dispozicija in organizacija gradiva je Ïe oprav-

ljena, ko sam s pravim delom ‰ele zaãnem. âlovek se vpra‰a,

kaj mi pravzaprav ‰e ostane, ko pripravljanje gradiva temelji

na variaciji. To pomeni, da se dela pravzaprav ne lotim svo-

bodno. VeÏe me red. Vanj pa sem se vklenil sam, saj sem ga

zavestno izbral. Torej sem vseeno svoboden.

Ljudje hoãejo biti svobodni, ker upajo, da se bodo v njih

sprostile njihove ustvarjalne sile. Toda to je le izraz subjek-

tivnosti. Upanje, da je moÏno biti ustvarjalen le iz lastnega vi-

ra, kmalu propade. Kot re‰itev se pokaÏe objektivnost. Tako

se svoboda sama dialektiãno preobrne. Ljudje spoznajo nuj-

nost, da se podredijo zakonom, sistemu, kar pa jim ‰e ne

jemlje svobode. Svoboda ni v tem, da kr‰imo in ne spo‰tuje-

mo pravil. To je banalno. Svobodni smo takrat, ko nas pravila

ne utesnjujejo veã, se pravi, ko pravila nadgradimo; ko prene-

hamo biti anarhiãni. âe pogledamo ‰ir‰e, skoraj lahko trdi-

mo, da je prava svoboda le v popolnem redu in disciplini.

Red, kot je likovna kompozicija, ni sam sebi namen. Daje

Gospodar sistema 1

55

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56

self. It provides us with support. As such, it is justified, but itmust be rejected when it turns into a form of etiquette.

Laws, rules and systems merely confirm real–life experi-ences, thereby performing a vitally important task. Theyform an organisation that is of utmost importance even increativity. Today, these rules are mostly forgotten and per-verted. In the past, they were not so objective or so extrovert.They were based on the experiences and practices of ances-tors. This was a collective memory, and this something thatcan be restored; observing these rules meant security.

Some think systems are a trick and therefore they rejectthem. At the same time, they use a system that has been test-ed and widely used for centuries and that they are not awareof because it is so widely present. They have probably learntabout it in school and simply adopted the work of others.Without any gratitude or historical awareness!* * *Back in the seminar class during the first year of my univer-sity studies, I realised that form and material are closely con-nected. When you wish to create a new image using a mate-rial that was intended for a different purpose and has differ-ent properties, you notice that there is a contradiction be-tween the material and forms that you wish to create with it.I have always felt that it is extremely important for the mate-rial and form to come together and complement one another,

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57

nam oporo. Kot tak‰en je sicer upraviãen, a ga je treba vedno

zavraãati, kadar se kaÏe kot nekaj drugega: namreã kot manira.

Zakoni, pravila, sistemi le potrjujejo Ïive izku‰nje in tako

opravljajo Ïivljenjsko pomembno nalogo. To je organizacija,

ki je skrajno pomembna celo v ustvarjalnosti. Ta pravila so

danes veãinoma pozabljena in preobrnjena. Vãasih niso bila

tako objektivna, tako obrnjena navzven. Izhajala so iz izku-

‰enj prednikov, iz njihove prakse. To je bil kolektivni spomin,

to je tisto, kar je mogoãe obnoviti, in spo‰tovanje teh pravil je

pomenilo varnost.

Nekateri gledajo na sistem, kot na trik, in ga zato zavra-

ãajo. Istoãasno pa sami uporabljajo kak‰nega, ki je Ïe stoletja

preizku‰en in ustaljen in ki se ga zaradi splo‰ne prisotnosti

sploh ne zavedajo. Verjetno so se ga nauãili Ïe kar v ‰oli in ta-

ko preprosto privzeli delo drugih. Brez vsake hvaleÏnosti ali

spomina!

* * *Îe v seminarju v prvem letniku mi je postalo jasno, da sta ob-

lika in material tesno povezana. Ko Ïeli‰ ustvariti novo podo-

bo, pa pri tem uporablja‰ material, ki je bil namenjen drugi

rabi in ima zato druge lastnosti, opazi‰, da obstaja nasprotje

med materialom in med oblikami, ki bi jih rad s tem materi-

alom ustvaril. Vselej mi je bilo zelo pomembno, da se materi-

al in oblika zdruÏita in da si vzajemno ustrezata, da torej ne

vsiljujem materialu oblike, za katero ni bil ustvarjen.

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58

that I do not force the material to assume a form for which itwas not created.

It all began with a problem of how to place a blacksquare on a white surface. Theoretically, it can be placedanywhere and the square can be of any size.

I received the first information about the emerging com-position from the format of the paper. The sides of the for-mat generally used in my country are in the proportion ofone to the square root of two (both A and B format). The for-mat seems to be composed of a square and the proportion-ate remainder. For this reason, I drew diagonals of the entireformat and diagonals of the square part. This defined boththe position and the size (see fig. 1). I placed the blacksquare in the centre of the upper square part, determiningits size with the intersection of the diagonals of the entireformat (see fig. 2).

Later it turned out that I always return to the same foun-dation. I always find out that I move in an area of what I call»primary composition«. I have also tried to translate thissystem into the golden section format. The mental construc-tion and the order are the same, but the character of the pro-portions in the golden section does not suit me because dueto emphatic elongation the golden section leans too much inone direction (see fig. 3). Therefore we should not search on-ly for quantity in proportions (relationships), but also for

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59

Vse skupaj se je zaãelo s problemom,

kako postaviti ãrn kvadrat na belo ploskev.

Teoretiãno ga lahko postavimo na katero-

koli mesto in sam kvadrat je lahko tudi ka-

terekoli velikosti.

Prvo informacijo o nastajajoãi kompo-

ziciji mi je dal Ïe sam format papirja. For-

mat, ki je uveljavljen v na‰ih krajih, ima

razmerje stranic ena proti koren iz dva (ta-

ko A kot tudi B format). Izgleda, kot da je

sestavljen iz kvadrata in pripadajoãega

ostanka. Zato sem narisal najprej diagona-

le celotnega formata in diagonale kvadratnega dela. Tako le-

ga, kot tudi velikost sta bili s tem doloãeni (glej prvo risbo).

ârni kvadrat sem postavil v sredi‰ãe zgornjega kvadratnega

dela, njegovo velikost pa doloãa preseãi‰ãe diagonal celotne-

ga formata (glej drugo risbo).

Kasneje se je izkazalo, da se vedno vraãam k tej osnovi.

Vedno ugotovim, da se gibljem v obmoãju zame prakompozi-

cije. Ta sistem sem posku‰al prenesti tudi v format zlatega

reza. Sama miselna konstrukcija in red sta enaka, le da mi

karakter razmerja zlatega reza ne ustreza, ker je zaradi svoje

veãje izdolÏenosti preveã usmerjen le v eno smer (glej tretjo

risbo). Torej v razmerjih (odnosih) ne smemo gledati le kvan-

titete, temveã predvsem kvaliteto. Vsako razmerje ima dru-

Prva risba / Fig. 1

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Druga risba / Fig. 2 (00, 1978–1987)

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Gospodar sistema 1

Tretja risba / Fig. 3 (00z, 1978–1987)

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62

quality. Each proportion has a different character. The differ-ence between two proportions, such as between one to thesquare root of two and the golden section, in a certain in-stance resembles the difference between major and minor inmusic.

When I do not wish to construct a certain proportion in ageometric way, I take its arithmetic approximate in the formof a ratio between small integers. The quotients 5:7, 12:17,29:41. 58:89 and 7:10 are arithmetic approximates of the oneto the square root of two ratio. The difference between an ac-curate geometric construction and an arithmetic approxi-mate is relatively small and of no significance for the usualartistic purposes. If we calculate, we see that the quotient of1 to the square root of two is 1.414, whereas the quotient of7:110 is 1.428. This means that in the length of one metre, thedifference would be less than a millimetre and a half, whichis far beyond our visual capacities.

Usually I take the B2 format because it is physically con-trollable but still large enough. I imagine that one side is 7and the other 10 units long. The entire format is therefore astructure of 7x10 squares, which shows the basic principle ofcomposition (see fig. 4). »Struktur ist die Wiederholung einerEinheit. Die Gliederungen werden bei den ProportionenHalt machen müssen.« Paul Klee And this is a visible differ-ence between the first and second composition, a difference

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gaãen karakter. Razlika med dvema razliãnima razmerjema,

kot na primer med ena proti koren iz dva in zlatim rezom, je

v nekem trenutku podobna razliki med durom in molom v

glasbi.

Ko ne Ïelimo nekega razmerja konstruirati geometrijsko,

vzamemo njegov aritmetiãni pribliÏek v obliki razmerja med

malimi celimi ‰tevili. Recimo kvocienti: 5:7, 12:17, 29:41,

58:89; 7:10 so primeri aritmetiãnih pribliÏkov razmerja ena

proti koren iz dva. Razlika med natanãno geometrijsko kon-

strukcijo in aritmetiãnim pribliÏkom je sorazmerno majhna

in za obiãajne likovne potrebe pravzaprav zanemarljiva. âe

poraãunamo, znese kvocient razmerja ena proti koren iz dva

1,414, kvocient razmerja 7:10 pa 1,428. Pomeni, da na enem

metru zagre‰imo napako slabega milimetra in pol, kar je da-

leã ãez na‰e sposobnosti vidne zaznave.

Obiãajno vzamem format B2, ker je fiziãno obvladljivih

velikosti, vendar ‰e vedno dovolj velik. Predstavljam si, da je

ena stranica dolga 7 enot, druga pa 10 enot. Tako je celotni

format struktura 7x10 kvadratov, ki Ïe kaÏe na osnovni prin-

cip kompozicije (glej ãetrto risbo). »Struktur ist die Wieder-

hohlung einer Einheit. Die Gliederungen werden bei den Pro-

portionen Halt machen müssen.« Paul Klee In tukaj je tudi vi-

den razloãek med prvo in drugo kompozicijo, mislim na raz-

loãek, ki je za risbama. Prva je narejena po geometrijskih

principih in format je znotraj ãlenjen. Posamezni elementi so

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64

that is behind the two drawings. The firstfollows geometric principles and its for-mat is internally divided. Individual ele-ments are different and proportions (ra-tios) connect these elements into a whole.In the second example, a certain unit re-peats itself and individual elements areproducts of this unit. The individual ele-ments can be subtracted or added withoutchanging the rhythm of the composition.

In this I distinguish between thestructure within an individual element

and between the structure of equal and independent ele-ments. If I draw a square with a grid that divides it into 5x5small squares, this represents a structure within or of thesquare. It is something completely different if I draw 5x5squares. The difference is immediately visible becausesquares no longer have common borders: each square hasits own four edges (see fig. 5). This means that when we payattention to the edges and less to surfaces, what we seewithin the structure are two parallel borders. This is a struc-ture of 5x5 (squares) on the 7x10 surface, which is a founda-tion for my further work.

With the basic grid, I define the rules of the game/com-position. Actually, I already define them in the first composi-

âetrta risba / Fig. 4

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Gospodar sistema 1

Peta risba / Fig. 5 (a, 1987)

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66

tion. The black square measures exactly 3x3 and the line cutsaway the upper square part of the format three units abovethe lower edge. In this way, the format is divided into twosurfaces measuring 3x7 and 7x7 respectively.

As long as there is only this, I speak about pure composi-tion that is characterised by a special inherent constructionalsolidity and order that borders on rigidity. It is like a scientif-ic work. It contains suppressed forces and tensions. It isbeautiful as it is. This means that when I lay emphasis onlyon its construction, I receive an assurance that the final resultwill be »beautiful« no matter what the composition contains.In this case I achieve this by drawing a grid/structure. Icould for example accentuate the perspective cross whendrawing an architectural space. But this kind of compositionis not alive and it is quickly exhausted. I find life in irregu-larities. Irregularities manifest as stresses, unexpected posi-tion, etc. Pure composition is merely a box for the requiredcontent. The content can be anything and does not changethe composition.

I emphasise the squares of the basic structure by addinganother element. In this way, the squares attain individuali-ty. If I set additional elements in a regular position, whichdue to special features is mathematically called specific po-sition, if their position is central or axial (symmetrical),characters emerge (see fig. 6). But in order for a character to

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razliãni in sorazmerja (proporcije) so tisto, kar te elemente

povezuje v celoto. V drugem primeru pa se stalno ponavlja

neka enota in posamezni elementi so le mnogokratniki eno-

te. Posamezne ãlene lahko odvzemamo in dodajamo, ne da bi

vplivali na ritmiãni karakter kompozicije.

Pri tem loãim med strukturo znotraj posameznega ele-

menta in med strukturo enakovrednih in samostojnih ele-

mentov. âe nari‰em kvadrat in znotraj mreÏo, ki ga razdeli

na 5x5 kvadratov, je to le struktura (znotraj) kvadrata. âe pa

nari‰em pet krat pet kvadratov, je to nekaj povsem drugega.

Razlika je vidna takoj, ker tako kvadrati nimajo veã skupnih

mejnih robov, temveã ima vsak kvadrat vse ‰tiri robove last-

ne sam zase (glej peto risbo). Se pravi, ko smo pozorni pred-

vsem na robne ãrte in manj na ploskve, vidimo znotraj struk-

ture vedno po dve robni ãrti vzporedno. To je struktura 5x5

(kvadratov) na ploskvi 7x10 in je osnova za vse moje nadalj-

nje delo.

Tako sem z osnovno mreÏo doloãil pravila igre – kompo-

zicije. Pravzaprav sem pravila igre doloãil Ïe pri prvi kompo-

ziciji. ârni kvadrat je namreã velik toãno 3x3 in ãrta odreÏe

gornji kvadratni del formata 3 enote nad spodnjim robom;

torej je format razdeljen na ploskvi 3x7 in 7x7.

Dokler imam samo to, govorim o ãisti kompoziciji, za ka-

tero je znaãilna prav posebna notranja konstruktivna trdnost

in urejenost, Ïe kar togost. Je kot znanstveno delo. V njej so

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be recognised at the first glance, it must constructed in away that clearly reveals its regularity (it is mathematicallyspecific).

But when additional elements are arranged in a generalposition, square turn into ordinary boxes with inserted con-tent (see fig. 7). When additional elements are in a centralposition, we see only these elements as such, but when wemove it, they acquire the significance of their position (in re-lation to other elements). The relative significance over-shadows the absolute significance. This means that a simpleline could be equally replaced by an elephant in the sameposition. Consequently, the main difference between thecharacter and a certain sequence is the way elements arearranged. Characters are defined by their specific position.A character is memorable because of its regularity. Or else, ifwe remember a character only partially, it can be recon-structed with the help of the strict laws of its structure. Thisresembles a music written in a certain harmony that is de-fined by a solid, almost rigid inherent order. It lives in ourmemory for a long time.

Some of the best characters are letters. It is interestingthat Y did not seem good enough to the sculptor AdamSmith. He changed it by adding another arm to the conven-tional two. This gave additional emphasis to the letter’s spe-cific nature as a character. On the contrary, James Joyce in

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69

sile in napetosti potlaãene. Lepa je Ïe sama na sebi. To pome-

ni, ko poudarim njeno konstrukcijo samo, si s tem pridobim

zagotovilo, da bo konãen rezultat »lep« ne glede na to, kaj je v

njej. V mojem primeru sem to dosegel tako, da sem narisal

mreÏo – strukturo. Lahko pa bi recimo poudaril perspektivni

kriÏ, ko bi risal kak‰en arhitekturni ambient. Taka kompozi-

cija pa ni Ïiva in se hitro izãrpa. Îivljenje vidim v nepravilno-

stih. Nepravilnosti so lahko kak‰ni poudarki, nepriãakovana

lega, ... âista kompozicija je le ‰katla za tisto, kar bi moralo

biti v njej. To pa je lahko karkoli, ne da bi jo spreminjalo.

Kvadratom osnovne strukture lahko dam poudarke tako,

da jim dodam znotraj kak‰en dodatni element. Tako dobijo

svojo individualnost. Ko te dodatne elemente postavim v

kak‰no zelo pravilno lego, ki ji zaradi posebnih lastnosti v

matematiki pravimo posebna lega; ko je njihova lega central-

na oziroma osna (simetriãna), dobim znake (glej ‰esto risbo).

Tukaj vidimo, da se kar tako neki znak (konãno je vsaka

stvar, s tem, ko je, Ïe tudi znak) in znak, ki ga nekdo zavestno

naredi ali izoblikuje, bistveno razlikujeta. To je prav tak‰na

razlika, kot med stvarjo, ki ima kar tako neko obliko, in stvar-

jo, ki ima zavestno izoblikovano obliko. Da pa znak resniãno

Ïe na pogled deluje kot znak, mora biti zgrajen tako, da je ta-

koj vidna njegova pravilnost (matematiãno posebnost).

Ko pa dodatne elemente postavimo v splo‰no lego, posta-

nejo kvadrati le navadne ‰katle, v katere je nekaj vstavljeno

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·esta risba / Fig. 6 (b, 1987)

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Gospodar sistema 1

Sedma risba / Fig. 7 (c, 1988)

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72

Finnegan’s Wake discovered something extremely interest-ing about characters: in the passage where a red hen finds aletter, he says that there is no difference between writing anddrawing. The hen found a secret message. The letter means:»You have sent for me.« All letters bring the secret message:»You have sent for me.« They do not say: »I have sent foryou.« Consequently Joyce believes that all characters have acommon significance in addition to their own individuality.By trying to be as specific as possible, they achieve exactlythe opposite. They became general.* * *With this I realised that pure composition is a craft. I foundmy solution to the problem, because the laws of a craft arenot mandatory for creativity. A science about craftsmanshipis practical and as such extremely useful and possibly evenunavoidable.

This procedure can be called a composition–buildingmethod with a limited number of elements that are connect-ed only to one another. It consists of a single basic image of amany times varied line of (five) elements; this defines thehorizontal and vertical line, as can be expected from a basicmotif with a limited number of elements. This method is oneof craftsmanship, which has no decisive influence on thecomposition, and the character of the work. It is merely anissue of approaching the material with regard to a selection

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(glej sedmo risbo). Ko so dodatni elementi v sredi‰ãni legi, vi-

dimo le njih same na sebi, ko pa jih izmaknemo, pa jim pri-

damo pomen pripadajoãega mesta (napram drugim elemen-

tom). Relativni pomen zasenãi absolutnega. Tako bi namesto

enostavne ãrte na istem mestu enako dobro sedel tudi kak-

‰en slonãek, ... To pomeni, da je bistvena razlika med zna-

kom in kar tako nekim sestavom, kako so elementi razvr‰ãe-

ni med seboj. Znake naredi predvsem posebna lega. Zaradi

svoje pravilnosti si znak laÏje zapomnimo. Oziroma, ãe si ga

zapomnimo le fragmentarno, ga lahko rekonstruiramo po

strogih zakonih njegove zgradbe. To je podobno, kakor z glas-

bo pisano v harmoniji, kjer vlada zelo moãan, Ïe kar tog no-

tranji red. ·e po dolgem ãasu si jo lahko prikliãemo v zavest.

Primeri najodliãnej‰ih znakov so ãrke. Hkrati pa je zani-

mivo, da se kiparju Adamu Smithu ‰e Y ni zdel dovolj dober.

Predelal ga je tako, da mu je namesto obiãajnih gornjih dveh

rogljev narisal kar tri. Tako je ‰e dodatno poudaril njegov

znakovni karakter. Nasprotno pa James Joyce v romanu Fin-

negans Wake ugotavlja v zvezi z znaki nekaj zelo zanimivega.

Na mestu, kjer je rdeãa koko‰ izbrskala ãrko, pravi, da ni raz-

like med pisanjem in risanjem. Koko‰ je izbrskala tajno spo-

roãilo. ârka pomeni: »Poslal si po mene.« Vse ãrke prina‰ajo

tajno sporoãilo: »Poslal si po mene". Ne: »Poslal sem po te-

be.«! Torej meni, da imajo vsi znaki poleg svoje lastne indivi-

dualnosti ‰e skupni pomen. S tem ko hoãejo biti kar najbolj

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74

of design approaches and awareness of the material’s char-acteristics.

Ljubljana, 1995

I was encouraged to edit and record my thoughts on the topic that I have been ex-ploring since 1978 by an article by Borka Tepina, entitled Na konici svinčnika (Atthe tip of the pencil; Borka Tepina, Na konici svinčnika, Likovne besede, 12–13March 1990, pp. 65–69).

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posebni, so v nekem smislu prav nasprotno. So splo‰ni.

* * *Ob tem sem spoznal, da ni ãista kompozicija niã drugega, kot

le obrt. S tem sem vpra‰anje zase re‰il, saj zakoni obrti za us-

tvarjalnost niso obvezni. Nauk o obrtni‰tvu je smotrnost in

kot tak zelo koristen, morda celo neizogiben.

Ta postopek lahko imenujemo kompozicijska metoda z

omejenim ‰tevilom samo drug na drugega vezanih elemen-

tov. Zgrajen je iz ene same osnovne podobe, veãkrat variirane

vrste ‰tirih (petih) elementov; vodoravna in navpiãna vrsta

sta temu podrejeni, kot je to mogoãe priãakovati pri

osnovnem motivu s tako omejenim ‰tevilom elementov. To

je metoda bolj obrtne narave, ki nima odloãilnega vpliva niti

na kompozicijo niti na znaãaj dela. Je le vpra‰anje obravnave

gradiva glede na oblikovalne naãine ob upo‰tevanju danosti

gradiva.

V ljubljani, 1995

âlanek Borka Tepine Na konici svinãnika me je vzpodbudil, da sem uredil in za-

pisal misli o problemih, s katerimi se poãasi ukvarjam od leta 1978. (Borko Tepina;

Na konici svinãnika, Likovne besede, 12–13, marec 1990, strani 65–69.)

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Saarinen, 1987 Spirala / Spiral, 19873c, 1991 Zamik / Shift, 1991

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Gospodar sistema 1

n, 1. 9. 1991 dn, 1. 9. 1988 a1a, 1991 Kvadrat87 / Square87, 1990

knjiga.qxd 7.11.2003 12:09 Page 77

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Gospodar sistema 1

← ârte / Stripes, 1994

LC–1a, 1994

LC–3, 1994 LC–4, 1994

LC–6, 1994 LC–2, 1994 LC–1, 1994 LC–5, 1994

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80

Construction isplanning, organisation, arrangement,comparison and control.In short: it comprisesall means that resistchaos and coincidence.For this reason it befitsthe human intentionand qualifies humanthought and deed. Josef Albers

his text is an answer to anumber of frequently ask-ed questions. I have de-scribed methods and situ-ations connected with mywork. I have incorporatedmemories and circumstan-ces surrounding the gene-sis of my work and haveadded whatever seemsrelevant: personal associa-tions connected with mywork.


TI flatten black lines in order to stop the lie in its tracks. Janez Bernik

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81

Konstruiranje je

planiranje, organiziranje, razvr‰ãanje

primerjanje in nadzorovanje

v eni besedi: obsega

vsa sredstva, ki se zoperstavljajo

neredu in sluãaju.

Zato ustreza

ãlovekovemu hotenju

in kvalificira ãlovekovo

mi‰ljenje in dejanja. Josef Albers

o pisanje je odgovor na

pogosta vpra‰anja. Opi-

sujem metode in situa-

cije, ki se nana‰ajo na

moje izdelke. Vkljuãil

sem spomine na okoli-

‰ãine, ko so izdelki na-

stajali, dodal sem, kadar

se mi je to zdelo primer-

no, osebne asociacije, ki

se nanje nana‰ajo.

Nisem pa vkljuãil izjav,

kaj risbe »pomenijo«. Ne

Gospodar sistema 2

Târne ãrte plo‰ãim, da laÏ zastane. Janez Bernik

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